


The Talk

by VanillaMostly



Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Headcanon, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27963257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaMostly/pseuds/VanillaMostly
Summary: Keith wants to talk to Logan, alone. Set post-movie.
Relationships: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Comments: 24
Kudos: 54





	The Talk

**Author's Note:**

> new obsession- Veronica Mars!  
> Haven't been able to watch Season 4 tho knowing what happens :(
> 
> Do not own

Logan paused by the door. He was almost thirty years old and now a Navy lieutenant with the uniform and cap to prove it. He wasn’t the same Logan Echolls when Mr. Mars had seen him last, but even so, he still hesitated. Guess your ex-girlfriend’s - or now once-again girlfriend’s - dad would always have that effect on you. Not that Keith Mars didn’t have a certain chilling factor to his gaze when he put his mind to it; one of the reasons why he made both a formidable sheriff and P.I., no doubt.

Logan took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold. He found Keith Mars inside reading a newspaper, somehow managing to look like he was sitting behind a desk dressed in a suit rather than in a hospital bed dressed in a hospital gown.

Keith heard him and folded the newspaper away. “Ah, Logan.” He didn’t quite smile, but he didn’t scowl either. Logan tried to decipher whether there was a chill in the gaze but the lighting was too dim.

“How are you, Mr. Mars?” Logan asked awkwardly, then cursed himself. That was a stupid question to ask somebody recovering from several fractured ribs, broken pelvis and traumatic brain injury.

“Never better,” said Keith lightly. He pointed a thumb at the chair next to him. “Here, have a seat."

Logan sat down slowly at the chair by the bed. One that Veronica had probably been sitting in for as much as visiting hours allowed for the last week. Except she had sent, in her place, Logan today - a bizarre notion if there ever was one.

He had tried telling her this was not a good idea before he’d left - _“Hello, your dad hates me?”_ but she wouldn’t hear of it, only giving him some smart-alecky quip and a cheerful peck on the lips.

"Veronica brought you this.” Logan placed the tupperware, still warm, on the table. “She, uh… couldn’t make it today, she - “

“No need to explain, Logan.” Keith opened the tupperware, taking a hearty whiff of the lasagna inside. “I asked her to send you.”

“Send - me?” Logan was sure he was gaping. He tried to rearrange his expression to a more natural one.

“Yes, you.” Keith fixed a stare on Logan that, yup, definitely had the chill factor. "I thought we should talk."

Logan swallowed. Here it was: the _stay-away-from-my-daughter_ speech Keith Mars had been dying to spring on him since day one. Logan couldn’t blame him. Where to even start? The partying, the drugs, the women... he’d certainly painted a wholesome image in his teens. But Logan knew the deeper issue. Keith had once witnessed him breaking a lamp in outrage while shouting at Veronica, right after she had just broken up with him. He never would have hurt her, but Keith didn’t know that. 

_Apple never falls far from the tree_ \- he’d heard it in whispers behind his back or seen it in writing on covers of tabloids. It was also a familiar haunt of his mind, especially on nights when he’d had too much to drink. Even now, after years of being sober, years of therapy and Navy training that had taught him better outlets for his demons, the thought still twisted his guts.

“Mr. Mars -” Logan opened his mouth before mentally preparing a script, and for a moment he didn’t know which direction to take... _I’m sorry for before? I’ve changed? I’m not my father? “..._ I love Veronica.”

He surprised himself as those words left his mouth. Not because he hadn’t always known it was true, but because of how quickly he found his nerves calming, and how much easier it was suddenly to hold Keith’s gaze.

“I know you mean the world to her. And she means the world to you. I’d never want to come between you two. But I love her, and whatever you think of me... it won’t change that.”

Keith just looked at him. “You know you loved her before and it didn’t work out, right?”

“All the more reason not to give up this time.”

Keith appraised him in silence for a while. Then he sighed, looking down at his lasagna and stabbing a fork into it. “Well, you’re not eighteen anymore. She’s not eighteen anymore. A moving speech, Logan, but it’s none of my business who my daughter dates.”

Logan blinked. “So... you weren’t...”

“Worried? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. I’ve seen her crying over you too many times, Logan. No father likes to see their daughter’s heart broken twice.” Keith glanced at him, but it wasn’t a look of reproach. “I’m not accusing you. At my age I know heartbreak goes both ways. You didn't have it easy either after she left."

Logan was grateful Keith didn't go into details. "I'm in a better place now, Mr. Mars," he said quietly.

"I can see that," Keith said simply. “You think I’m blind?" He shook his head. "I watched that girl grow up. I know her inside out. Sure, she’s kept secrets from me, but whether she’s happy or miserable, I know before she does sometimes. And I can see she’s happier now than she was a week ago. Whatever that changed.” Keith gave a wry smile. “Do I wish she’d drop you like a hot potato and fly back to New York? Well, yes. Because I want her out of Neptune. Out of this damned life. But I also get the feeling that’s not going to happen.”

Logan grinned back. “To be fair, I’m fairly confident you’re the bigger reason she’s staying than me.”

“That’s Veronica for you - I’m the dad and somehow she’s gotten it in her head it’s _her_ job to take care of _me_.” Keith chuckled. 

Logan couldn’t believe it, but he was actually having a conversation with Veronica’s father that wasn’t entirely uncomfortable. They talked a little more, covering topics from basketball to mutual contacts they had in the Navy, until a nurse poked her head into the room, announcing it was time for Keith’s meds.

“Well, Mr. Mars...” said Logan, bringing himself to his feet.

“Hey, hey, are you still in high school? Call me ‘Keith.’”

“Uh... Keith,” said Logan carefully, still a bit shocked at this recent change in tone of their relationship, “I’d better leave you to get some rest.”

“Wait.”

Logan turned back to look at Keith, wondering what else Keith Mars had hidden in store for him.

To his surprise - and he really shouldn’t be any more surprised today - Keith reached out a hand towards him, looking at him expectantly. Logan, a little confused, took it.

“The reason I called you here, Logan, was to say this: thank you for saving my life.”

“Oh,” said Logan. He felt a flush rising up his neck. “Mr. Ma- I mean, Keith. You don’t have to thank me. I was just in the right place at the right time.”

“And I’m glad you were,” said Keith, his grip just as firm as his voice. 

With one solid handshake, he let go of Logan’s hand. Logan nodded, still feeling as awkward as ever, but as he walked to the door he paused and turned back. He held up a hand in a small wave. Keith Mars, lying in bed as the nurse fussed over him, returned it.


End file.
